TOLEDO - An appeals court has upheld the criminal conviction of a local couple charged in the 2012 death of a 2-month-old boy.

Kayla Henderson, 28, and Beau Hutchinson, 29, both of Toledo and formerly of Port Clinton, each were convicted of third-degree felony child endangerment following a four-day jury trial in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court in 2015. Judge Bruce Winters sentenced them to the maximum penalty of three years in prison.

The couple originally were charged, but later acquitted, of an additional count of permitting child abuse, a first-degree felony, stemming from the death of Henderson’s 2-month-old son in March 2012.

The boy, Kalib Henderson, suffered a blow to the head that resulted in skull fractures and bleeding of the brain, and he died a week later, according to court records.

The boy’s injuries became apparent while Henderson and Hutchinson, who is not the child’s father, were at a dinner gathering with friends and family at a home in Erie Township in Ottawa County, according to testimony.

When Hutchinson went to check on the baby — left alone with other children in another room — he said he heard a “boom,” records show. Hutchinson told authorities that a 3-year-old had picked up the baby and dropped him on his head.

An Ottawa County sheriff’s detective, however, testified at trial that the accounts given by Hutchinson and Henderson did not align with the injuries sustained by the infant.

Three doctors who reviewed the case — Dr. Randall Schlievert, Dr. Bader Cassin and Dr. Bethany Mohr — testified that they thought the child had been abused.

Cassin, a forensic pathologist in Michigan, performed the autopsy on Kalib and said the impact suffered was so severe that it not only caused the brain swelling that led to the infant’s death, but also fractured his skull, which requires more force.

Schlievert, director of the child abuse program and vice president of academic affairs for Mercy Northern District, testified that an adult slammed the child’s head and “if anybody said they dropped this baby and that’s what happened, they were not telling the truth.”

Attorneys for the couple, Kris Hill and Tom DeBacco, argued on appeal that the doctors’ testimony and reports should have been excluded from trial because they failed to meet the rules of evidence required in Ohio.

They argued, for example, that Cassin’s opinions were based on hearsay and that he lacked any personal knowledge of the facts regarding the incident causing Kalib’s injury.

The appeals court ruled in favor of the prosecution, stating in its decision that the doctors’ trial testimony was limited to their respective fields of expertise.

Hutchinson and Henderson also contended in their appeal that they should have been granted assistance from the state to hire an expert witness for their defense, a request previously denied by Ottawa County Common Pleas Court.

In response, the appeals court noted that regardless of the couple’s income at the time, they both failed to show how the requested expert would aid in their defense.

Additionally, the Sixth District Court found three other supposed errors raised in the appeal not to be well-taken, including denial of their motion for acquittal, comments made by the prosecution alleging the couple lied, and imposing the maximum sentence.

Hutchinson and Henderson both will be eligible for release from prison in January 2018 at the earliest, after completing 80 percent of their sentence. Their prison terms expire in July of that year.